Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico

Sometimes we find that we have to stop. And that is what we have done in Ixtapa. While we love all the activities and social life of cruising we have been taking a slight break. Some of the break has been brought on that Wally was sick and then I was sick, however, we have both recovered.

Marina Ixtapa is the largest marina in Mexico. It has a capacity for 621 boats, although I think it is only half full and it does feel small. It is a very pretty marina surrounded by mountains. Many hotels and condiminiums surround the marina along with some good restaurants. There are not many tourists. The local businesses say that business is very slow.



We were told in this marina to be careful with Angel as there are crocodiles in the water. We were not sure it was true until we had a huge crocodile swimming by our boat! As you can guess, no swimming in this area. Also we have iguanas on the dock. This marina keeps us on our toes as we walk the docks.




We rented a car for the day as we were getting land sick. We wanted to travel inland to see the mountains. We rented a Dodge Atos. What a fun small car. I think Wally thought he was a race car driver all day. We had been a little nervous about driving in a foreign country, however, we found it was not a problem for the 2 of us. I think it may have been a problem if Wally was alone as reading the signs in Spanish and staying on the right side of the road seemed to be a challenge! We had a great time exploring. Along the way we saw goats, donkeys and cattle along the roads. The countryside was beautiful. It went to a lot of green foliage, pink flower trees and jungle to cactus. We saw lakes and rivers. We will in the future continue to explore inland Mexico by car.



We are planning to leave Ixtapa on Wednesday, weather permitting. Due to the El Nino year we have definitely had weather challenges. Last season the weather was the same every day. This is the furthest south we will travel this season. We will begin to head slowly north back to Mazatlan. We then plan to go to the Sea of Cortez April and May.